A heartless dog-napper snatched a Vietnam War veteran’s beloved service pooch from outside a Bronx supermarket – and the devastated owner is offering up his rent money to get the animal back.
John Nevarez, 64, of Morrisania tied up the little Shih Tzu named Chulo to a tree outside the Associated Supermarket on 3rd Avenue nearby his home at around 4:30 p.m. Sunday before he went inside the grocery store to buy dog food.
When Nevarez returned to fetch Chulo just minutes later, the two-year-old pup was gone, sending Nevarez into a panic.
Surveillance video captured a man in a gray t-shirt and shorts untying the dog from the tree and nonchalantly walking away with the dog.
“I always tie him up to that tree. He’s with me every day, every minute. As soon as I walked in the store the guy must have been behind me and took the dog away,” a heartbroken Nevarez told The Post Tuesday.
John Edward Nevarez had his dog Chulo stolen from in front of the Associated Supermarket on 3rd Ave in the Bronx.Dennis A. Clark “Chulo is my family. I just want my dog back. I need him. Without him I can’t survive,” said Nevarez through tears.
Nevarez, who served two tours in Vietnam, is diabetic and Chulo is trained to alert him in case of a health emergency.
When Nevarez is in need of an insulin shot, Chulo – a former drug-sniffing dog from the Dominican Republic – would bark and lick Nevarez as a warning, he said.
“I don’t even have to use a monitor anymore. He knows how I feel,” said the war vet, who got Chulo registered as a service dog.
The desperate owner said that he will give his rent money of $2,000 for the safe return of his dog.
“Just bring me my dog, that’s all. Don’t hurt him,” said Nevarez. “He’s like a part of me. I won’t be able to take it without him.”
Chulo, who Nevarez had since he was just six-months-old is on a special diet and can’t eat dry food.
Friends and neighbors felt Nevarez’s pain.
“This is crazy. That’s like his baby,” said Kareen Parker, 22. “That’s all he has. Whoever did this has no heart.”
Surveillance video showing John Edward Nevarez’s dog Chulo stolen from in front of the Associated Supermarket on 3rd Ave in the Bronx.Marisol Chavez, 44, who was working checkout at the supermarket when Chulo was swiped called the dog theft “not human.”
“You don’t steal peoples’ dogs,” said Chavez. “John is sick. I always say, ‘John, where is Chulo?’ And I come outside and pet him. We need Chulo back.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast
